Grandparents feed kids junk

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 9:22 AM

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Millions of mums fear sending their children to granny and grandad's because they’ll be fed junk food, biscuits and sweets.

Researchers found that in a survey of 2000 mothers, around one in four have thought twice about allowing their kids to visit their grandparents due to concerns over the food they will consume whilst there.

Nearly half of parents went as far as to say they had been forced to point out rules or guidelines on their children’s diets to granny and grandad in advance of a visit.

And one in three has had a child arrive home in a hyperactive state due to the consumption of sweets and fizzy drinks.

Yesterday Paul Wheeler from Mini Max breakfast cereal which commissioned the study said, "I think what the results of this survey do speak to is the real worry parents have about letting their kid's diets quite literally out of their sights.

"I think most people will agree it's about balance – but sometimes that’s not as easy to achieve."

It isn’t just grandparents that are the problem either with mothers also worrying that allowing their child to have lunch or dinner with classmates or family friends means they will miss out on healthy fruit and vegetables.

Instead, they are likely to come home having been served up fatty fast or frozen food, fizzy drinks, cake and ice cream.

And as many as one in five have gone so far as to stop their children eating meals at certain people's houses and seeing certain friends outside of school to avoid the issue.

The majority of parents said they make sure their children have a balanced and nutritional breakfast before they leave the house because they are worried about what they will eat for the rest of the day.

Twenty two percent said they feel like breakfast is the only meal of the day where they have control over what their children eat.

But despite the reservations only forty-two percent of parents have built up the courage to confront granny and grandad over what they feed their child.

And of those that did nearly half said that they were just ignored.

One in 10 parents said their child had arrived home from someone else's house having been allowed to drink energy drinks while 15 percent have been shocked to hear that they have been fed microwaveable ready meals.

Nearly two thirds said that their children knew what food was healthy and unhealthy and normally make good choices when it comes to what they eat when they were at home.